Encouraging Eco-System Based Adaptive Water Management (HEESAWM)

The study aims to develop an effective water resources management strategy withholding the unique ecological characteristics to improve the socio-economic condition of the habitats in a sustainable manner.

Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER), BRAC University and BRAC have conducted this scoping study of the Haor regions of Bangladesh for the project Haor Region: Encouraging Eco-System Based Adaptive Water Management (HEESAWM) with the support of the 2030 Water Resource Group (WRG) of the World Bank. The project aims to support to develop an effective water resources management strategy withholding the unique ecological characteristics to improve the socio-economic condition of the habitats sustainably. Centre for Climate Change and Environmental Research (C3ER) has been assigned for the development of Adaptation Strategies Framework to explain the hydrology, biodiversity, and ecology scenarios of Haor Region.

The entire study was carried out in 4 stages, (1) the secondary literature review, (2) Stakeholder mapping, (3) framework development to explain the hydrology, biodiversity and ecology variations for attaining optimal water use, (4) identification of the environmentally friendly technologies and practices and shortlisting 4 interventions for piloting.

The overall objectives were:

• Improve the livelihoods of the Haor population
• Develop ecologically sustainable infrastructure to balance the development of the Haor region while upholding the ecological features.
• Achieve effective water governance considering all major players

Client: Advocacy for Social Change, BRAC

Project Duration: May 2019- October 2019

Location: Haror Region of Bangladesh

Activities Performed Under the Project:

• Conducted a specific study on ‘Developing frameworks to capture and explain the hydrology, ecology, biodiversity, ecosystem services and connectivity including how to achieve optimal water management, considering all necessary uses of water and addressing seasonal water surpluses as well as deficits.
• Conducted a specific study on ‘current flood warning systems and the effectiveness of such systems to increase adaptive capacity and climate resilience of the farmers of the Haor region. The study aims to understand existing flood/flash flood early warning system of the country specifically for Haor region.